Embarking on its mission tomorrow, OSIRIS-REx begins an exciting journey to collect and return a small asteroid sample to Earth!
OSIRIS-REx artist concept. Image Credit: NASA
NASA’s mission will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida atop an Atlas V rocket. It’s target is an asteroid named Bennu that was discovered in 1999 and comes close to Earth every six years. Bennu is slightly longer than the Empire State Building.
Launching tomorrow, the spacecraft will orbit the sun until next September when it will perform an Earth flyby. This maneuver will send OSIRIS-REx onward to Bennu.
When it arrives at Bennu, there are many important things to learn before the spacecraft actually collects the sample for return to Earth. For more than a year, OSIRIS-REx will study Bennu. It will map the asteroid and potential sample sites as well as document properties of the surface material from where the sample will be collected.
The mission will also measure the deviation of Bennu’s orbit due to non-gravitational forces as well as compare the observations made at the asteroid to ground-based observations.
OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.
The instruments onboard the spacecraft will remotely sense and scan Bennu’s surface. There is a suite of three cameras, an instrument that uses light to measure distance, one that collects mineral and temperature information, another that measures visible and infrared light from the asteroid and a student experiment that will figure out which elements and how much of them are on the surface.
OSIRIS-REx. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
How will the sample be collected? That is where TAGSAM comes in, or Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism. It’s an arm with a sample head attached to it that will touch the asteroid surface and collect a small amount of material. Collecting 60 grams at a minimum, TAGSAM will place the sample in a container designed for returning to Earth. It’s called the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) and is equipped with a heat shield and parachutes. The precious material will return to Earth on September 24, 2023.
OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Asteroids are leftovers from the solar system’s formation and hold its earliest history. The mission hopes to find the molecules on this asteroid that are like those which could have led to the beginning of life on Earth. By bringing back a sample of the asteroid’s surface back to Earth, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of our solar system’s building blocks. Additionally, 75% of the returned material will be preserved by NASA for further research around the world and future generations.
Make sure to tune into the launch of OSIRIS-REx on NASA TV! Coverage begins on Thursday, September 8 at 4:30 p.m.